Inspiring Handmade Homes

Explore the joy, wit, and harmony of these exceptional handmade homes, each one a standing testament to the talent and creativity you'll find along the Pacific Coast of North America.

By Lloyd Kahn

| February/March 2009

A design primarily associated with Mongolia, this temple in Northern California is reminiscent of a yurt — which is arguably one of the original "handmade homes."

PHOTO: LLOYD KAHN

It’s a land of blue and green: the blue of the water — ocean, bays, estuaries, inlets, rivers, and creeks; and the green of the trees — cedar, fir, hemlock, balsam, alder, and spruce, all fed by abundant rainfall. It’s along the Pacific Coast of North America, from San Francisco up to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. And it’s in this relatively small geographical area that I discovered most of the handmade homes featured in this article and in my new book, Builders of the Pacific Coast.

The quality of design, imagination, and craftsmanship in this part of the world is astounding. Over a two-year period, I made four trips of about three weeks each, with cameras and notebooks, shooting these photos and talking to builders.

Specific locations usually aren’t given, in order to preserve the homeowners’ privacy. Suffice to say, it’s a coastal marine environment, latitudes 37 to 49 degrees, with boats everywhere. Many of these buildings can be reached only by water. You get to the islands by ferries.

Due to significant rainfall and fast-growing forests, there’s a large amount of wood available for building. Its abundance (although more so 30 years ago than today) has given many of these builders the material and inspiration to create these structures. A lot of the wood used in these buildings came off the beach, or at least from very close by.

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A design primarily associated with Mongolia, this temple in Northern California is reminiscent of a yurt — which is arguably one of the original "handmade homes."PHOTO: LLOYD KAHN

What inspired these unique buildings? One common theme is that they use wood, and lots of it. In their coastal marine environment, trees are abundant, and so is driftwood.LLOYD KAHN

The kitchen of a seaside homestead built primarily from driftwood.LLOYD KAHN

A light and airy living room, designed as the main gathering space for a family of six.LLOYD KAHN

An amphitheater in British Columbia.LLOYD KAHN

A temple under construction in northern California.LLOYD KAHN

An elegant spherical treehouse.LLOYD KAHN

A cliff-hanging homestead on the rocky coast of Vancouver Island.LLOYD KAHN

A woodshed designed to resemble an eagle.LLOYD KAHN

A loft built inside a geodesic dome home.LLOYD KAHN

“The Buddha House” found in Northwest Washington state.LLOYD KAHN

Another view of the Buddha House.LLOYD KAHN

The indefatigable author, Lloyd Kahn.LLOYD KAHN

An interior look at the Buddha House dome.LLOYD KAHN

About 80 percent of the builders featured in the book are Canadian. Some are Americans who emigrated to Canada to avoid being drafted for the war in Vietnam.

Many of these buildings were constructed in the ’70s and ’80s, some in the ’60s, a singular period in North American history. This group of builders, the types inspired by the Whole Earth Catalog, were acting out their dreams. You could live on very little money, land was cheap, and building codes few. It was a period not likely to be duplicated, a 20- to 30-year span of inspiration, freedom, and spirit manifested in a number of homes.

Much of this, by the way, was green building 30 to 40 years before it became “Green Building.” This type of building is all about using natural and sustainable materials. Practicality. Small-scale technology. Power from sun, wind, and water where possible. Fitting buildings into natural surroundings. Working with one’s hands.

I grew up on the Pacific Coast, so I felt at home in this region. In fact, when I made these trips, not only was the territory familiar, but people shared many of my interests: building, growing food, fishing, using natural materials, renewable energy, doing as much for yourself as possible, treating nature with respect, beachcombing — just to name a few. I had a wonderful time. I camped out on beaches, in the woods or in my truck, sometimes staying with the builders or in motels. I made a lot of new friends. Each trip was an adventure.

A lot of the homes I visited I found by chance. I followed up on referrals. The owners were around or they weren’t; houses were accessible, or not. I’d see buildings while driving down the road. There’s a great deal of randomness here. It wasn’t tightly planned and it’s not comprehensive, even for this small area.

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“Why these buildings?” People often ask me this. Here’s what I look for:

How does the building look in the landscape? Does it fit in?

How does it work? Is it practical? (I don’t always worry about that!)

Are the building materials sustainable? What about local?

What do the materials look like? How do they function? How are they to live with?

The aesthetics — how does it look and feel inside?

Craftsmanship — how well are things put together?

And, of course: joy, wit, and harmony of the design and construction.

I love going down new roads, hunting for buildings. As I drive, I’m constantly thinking about showing people what I find. So come along and ride shotgun with me, going down these roads, riding the ferries, walking the beaches, talking to these builders, and seeing their creations. I’ve found many inspiring, handmade homes in my travels to this land of blue and green, of water and wood.

Restrictions, poet Sandra Cisneros lives in a purple house, she even wrote about it. She is fined by the city but will only pay the fines and not paint over it. Society always makes me laugh at how uptight it is over individuality. Let everyone create their own footprints and not walk in others I say.

cathy prescott-hathaway

4/12/2013 4:00:34 PM

Kudos to Lloyd Kahn for his life's work of preserving the wonderful history of hand built, home made shelters in the U.S. and elsewhere. His books/articles are truly inspiring!

ryanhall27@gmail.com_13

10/28/2009 10:14:34 AM

jkhkj

mona_1

2/13/2009 8:42:53 AM

Beautiful homes!!! But I am curious about the author's comments that building codes would restrict their being built today. Perhaps codes (especially in rural areas like those shown) are not so restrictive in my own area but I believe similar type homes could and are being built today. They are more time and labor costly, but for those who love these concepts they are still possible. Thanks to the author for these inspiring peeks.

lee_2

2/4/2009 9:26:26 PM

Cool! Its sad that the freedom to do these things has been taken away by people who were from the same generation as those of us who did but they were the do-gooders of our time,now they are in charge,sad!

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